Happy New Year and welcome back, I am expecting James Levett to have a big 2017 and am really looking forward to see what 2017 has to hold. This years is first stop is the Newport Street Gallery in Vauxhall and if you still have not been you must go. It is a fantastic space and winner of the coveted RIBA Stirling prize, for the U.K’s best new building in 2016.

Gavin Turk had a tough act to follow after Jeff Koons most extensive exhibition of the artist’s work in this country to date. Turks work is full of historical references as in his interpretations of Warhol’s ‘Elvis’ and ‘Disaster’print series, and with Pipe (1991), a liquorice version of the traditionally-male smoking instrument – cast in bronze – that plays on Magritte’s famous The Treachery of Images (1929), whilst simultaneously referencing van Gogh. Influenced by artists such as Michelangelo Pistoletto, Turk’s skillful manipulation of materials is evident throughout the show, for example in his exquisitely-cast bronze rubbish bags, and with the major sculptural work Ariadne (2006–2014). This large-scale bronze playfully casts the classical female figure, reimagined in Giorgio de Chirico’s surreal paintings, as if she is made of crudely carved polystyrene, further debunking the fetishized art historical form.

I first saw Turk work in 1995 at the Saatchi gallery exhibition ‘Young British Artist’ and then again in the Royal Academy’s seminal ‘Sensation’ show in 1997. His latest offering is packed with full nostalgia and the confidence in his work perfectly sums up the time in which it was made in the mid 90’s. Gavin Turks collaboration with Damian Hurst’s Newport Street Gallery is tremendous fun and Turk’s quirky imagination is brought to life with humanistic themes.

We also popped over to see the Turner prize for the last time this year, next year prize will be held in Hull to celebrate being awarded The City of Culture for 2017.

A school trips to the old Commonwealth Institute was part of the cause for those of us old enough to remember this stunning building. A famously leaky roof and many years later the news that the Design Museum was to move out of Shad Thames and in to its new home just off Kensington high street was course for celebration.

The building itself is considered the second most important modern structures in London by English Heritage followed only by the royal festival hall on south bank.

Architect John Pawson has been responsible for a 80 million make over to convert the old building to house the new Design museum which will house its permanent collection free to the public for the first time as well as giving a platform to showcase exhibits that will continue to inspire and inform.

Despite mixed review I was very impressed with the aesthetics of the re-fit and found the architecture of the interior quite beautiful without detracting from the stunning roof, with that being said there is no escaping the fact that it is not the best use of space and I would strongly suggest to get there early as the permanent collection, shop and ground floor cafe can get very cramped when busy.

We take an honest approach to design, disregarding anything that could possibly detract from making of our beautiful suits, this is a belief inspired and upheld by Dieter Rams and the Ulm school of design.

The Ulm Model at Raven Row has been curated Peter Kapos, lecturer at Camberwell College of Arts and director of Das Program and features an eclectic mix of the student’s works from 1953 to 1968.

The Ulm School of Design (HfG Ulm) in Southern Germany pioneered an interdisciplinary and systematic approach to design education – known as the Ulm Model – that was to become universal. This is the first exhibition in the UK to represent the achievements of the school, including the foundation work in drawings and models by the students as well as the radical designs famously commissioned from the school by corporate clients such as Braun and Lufthansa.

I would highly recommended this to anyone interested in design and along with the unveiling of the New memorial honouring Frank Pick at Piccadilly Circus station earlier this month and the opening of the New design museum on November 24th there lots to see and do this month.